Sunday, October 14
We got up relatively early this morning…wanted to be on the road by at least 9:00 am. First, I had to check the computer to review scores of Saturday’s athletic events. Guess what, the Red Sox found a way to lose in extra innings…sure was glad I didn’t stay up until the wee hours of the morning to witness that!
After getting cleaned up and packing the car, we had hugs and kisses all around before taking off for the day’s adventures. First stop was at Mineola, about an hour and a half from Richardson, where Aunt T.J. had a wonderful breakfast cooked for us. We enjoyed the visit, short as it was, but left knowing that we were scheduled to be back in a few days after we visited Aunt Glennis in Marianna, Florida, and brought her back to Mineola so we could all go back to Artesia together.
By shortly after 11:00 am, we were back in the Vibe and headed down to Lindale to pick up I-20 and continue our journey east. Passing around Shreveport, Louisiana, and through Bossier City, we found ourselves on a relatively uncluttered highway and were able to make good time. Having eaten a late breakfast, we decided there was no point in stopping for lunch, so we just kept on motorizing until we stopped for gasoline (and a necessary break) in Monroe.
From there we cruised on across Louisiana on I-20 until we got to Vicksburg, Mississippi, on the Mississippi River. It was almost sundown when we crossed the river, so we decided we would stay in Vicksburg for the night and spend some time at the Vicksburg National Military Park Monday morning before continuing our journey.
Driving downtown, we found a nice hotel at a good price. There was no internet service available, but that was a secondary consideration tonight; we only wanted to stop driving and find a good place to relax and enjoy the evening.
Monday, October 15
We took our sweet time getting around this morning. Our destination
for the day wasn’t all that far away, so we just didn’t get in a hurry about much of anything. (Sort of like this loaded barge floating down the Mississippi!)We made it out to the park shortly after 9:00 am, presented our National Park Senior Pass (what a bargain…unlimited lifetime access to all national parks and monuments for only $10.00! Believe me, we’ve gotten much more than our money’s worth since purchasing the pass last June).
Once through the gate, we drove up to the visitor center to see what was available and get our bearings for the morning. Inside we found a large selection of books, recordings, and other Civil War memorabilia. We also discovered that there was a short film about the Siege of Vicksburg (also known as the Battle of Vicksburg and the Campaign for Vicksburg).
Again, as we discovered at Antietam last summer, the numbers of Americans killed or wounded during the battle are not only staggering, but also mind-numbing. While the numbers of casualties at Vicksburg (9,091 killed, wounded, or missing for the Confederates and 10,142 for the Union) don’t come close to those of Antietam (the single bloodiest day in American military history), the horror for those who were involved is graphically described.
By late 1862, Union forces had gained control of the Mississippi River except for a 250-mile stretch from Vicksburg on the north to Port Hudson, Louisiana, on the south. Commanders of both armies well understood the significance of controlling traffic on the river and thereby standing a better chance of winning the war. Without that control, the transfer of men and materiel was stymied in all directions. President Lincoln, knowing the military significance of Vicksburg, ordered General Ulysses S. Grant to capture the city and establish a Union presence.
Generals Grant and Sherman were unsuccessful in attempts during November and December to attack the city from the north and east. In January, 1963, Grant resumed his efforts to capture the city, utilizing a number of civil engineering tactics to turn the Mississippi River into an aid rather than a hindrance to his campaign.
In March, he finally came up with a plan that would ultimately be successful in surrounding and laying siege to the city. Grant would march his 45,000 man Army of the Tennessee down the western side of the river, utilize U.S. naval vessels to cross to the eastern side, and eventually be in position to attack from the east. Meanwhile, the Federal army would operate against Vicksburg from the south while a U.S. Navy contingent, under the command of Rear Admiral David D. Porter, would bombard the city from the river.
Grant’s Northern infantry began their march down the west side of the Mississippi on March 29. Facing strong Confederate opposition along the way, Grant’s forces and Porter’s vessels met at Disharoon’s Plantation in Louisiana, where the naval vessels began ferrying troops across the Mississippi to Bruinsburg.
By May 14, the Union troops had marched to Jackson, the state capital, captured it, and scattered its defenders.
Wasting no time, Grant turned his troops westward toward Vicksburg. On May 16, at Champion Hill, Grant’s forces defeated Lt. General John C. Pemberton’s confederate field army in the largest, bloodiest, and ultimately the most significant battle of the campaign. The next day, at the bridge on the Big Black River, the Federals overwhelmed the remainder of Pemberton’s troops and chased them back into Vicksburg.
After making unsuccessful charges toward the well-defended city, Grant began a formal siege campaign. For forty five days the army artillery fired upon the city from the east, while the naval ships fired from the river on the west. The siege took a heavy toll.
The Confederate forces expended all of their ammunition in defense of the city. Vicksburg was cut off from all supplies and assistance - food, water, ammunition, and replacement troops. Civilians, their houses destroyed by the constant bombardment, were living in caves and scrounging for the barest morsels of food. Military troops, without ammunition, and facing diminishing food rations, were unable to function as a viable force.
In early July, concerned about the plight of his soldiers and the citizens he was sworn to defend, and not receiving any assistance from his superior officer, General Johnston, Pemberton sought terms of surrender. On July 3 Pemberton met with Grant, and on July 4, 1863, the formal surrender was accepted. After 46 days of incessant pounding, Vicksburg, the key to a Confederate victory, was under the control of Union forces.
With all of this information in hand, we left the visitors center and took the 16-mile auto tour through the park. It was a gorgeous day – mostly blue skies with a few high clouds. It was almost impossible to imagine the horrors of war that took place in this unbelievably beautiful and calm countryside. The heavily wooded hillsides, gullies, and ravines belie the savageness of the siege. Only the monuments and statues are left to tell the story of a classic military campaign that is still studied for the elements of defensive and offensive tactics, coordination of troops, combination of infantry and naval forces, utilization of espionage, and the unshakable belief of leadership, troops, and civilians on both sides of the fray that not only did they stand for the truth, but that their cause was supported by God.
Barbara: I leave all the intellectual details to Jim and I get the fun stuff that we learned during our tour…So…here goes…
* First, President Lincoln, in a speech he delivered, used a great analogy when he compared Vicksburg to a key that he wanted in his pocket. He told his civil and military leaders, “See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.”
*The Mississippi River changed its course after the Civil War and the body of water currently in the old river bed is the Yazoo River Diversion Canal.
*The only wartime structure in the National Park is the Shirley house. When Mrs. Shirley, her 15 year old son, and a few slaves were caught in the crossfire as Union soldiers approached Vicksburg, they were very afraid for their lives. So, Mrs. Shirley tied a sheet to a broom handle and placed it on the upper front porch. When the Union solders removed them, they were given shelter in a cave some distance behind the house. 
*When the Union soldiers exploded a second mine on July 1, 1863, a Black man named Abraham was
working in a countermine and was hurled in the air. The bewildered man landed in Union lines, and when asked how high he had gone, he replied, “Dunno, master, but think about three miles!”*Perched atop the Wisconsin Infantry Monument is a likeness of “Old Abe,” the eagle mascot of this troop who accompanied them through many hard fought battles and
was once wounded. He achieved so much attention through the war that afterwards P.T. Barnum attempted to buy Old Abe for his circus. The State of Wisconsin refused to sell. *Private Albert D.J. Cashier, with the 95th Illinois Infantry, served for 3 years and participated in several major battles. Almost 50 years after the war, Albert was injured in an accident and rushed to a hospital where doctors discover he was a she. Albert Cashier was really Jennie Hodges, disguised as a man so she could fight in Mr. Lincoln’s Army.
*The Navy Monument is the tallest monument in the park.*The Cairo, one of seven ships in the city class,
was rocked by two explosions which tore gaping holes in the ship’s hull. She sank in 12 minutes and was the first ship in history to be sunk by an electrically detonated torpedo.*In the National Cemetery, upright gravestones are used to designate the identified soldiers while small blocks of stone are used to indicate
those soldiers who were never identified.During our tour around the National Park, Jim suddenly shouted and stopped the car. (That almost scared me to death.) He said, “Quick, give me the camera!” Being the obedient wife I am, I did so rapidly as he was climbing out of the car. I had no idea
what was so very important and he didn’t offer to tell me. Watching him roam around the back of the car for
a while, I said what are you doing? Well, seems as though he had seen a diamondback rattler and wanted a good photo of it…
Jim: Finally, We left the park around 1:00 and continued our journey east on I-20 toward Jackson, where we turned south on U.S. 49 to Hattiesburg (but not before making a quick stop somewhere south of Jackson for a Sonic meal).
From Hattiesburg (after getting a bit lost) we got onto U.S. 98 and headed southeast toward Mobile, Alabama. We’d been assured by some family members that this was unquestionably the quickest route (it even says so on MapQuest), but you couldn’t prove it by us. The road was great until we got close to Mobile, but then we hit slow traffic and heavy congestion. At the first opportunity, we got off of 98 and down to I-10.
After going through the tunnel under Mobile Bay, we continued east on I-10 through Alabama and into Florida. We’ve made this trip a number of times, but always on the interstate. This time, we wanted to see some of the local scenery. So, at mile marker 12 inside Florida, we turned south on I-110 toward Pensacola to again hit U.S. 98 to follow it along the Gulf Coast.
It was getting dark as we turned east, so we immediately began looking for a place to spend the night. We found a really nice Quality Inn at the small beach community of Gulf Breeze. The location and price were right and they even had free wi-fi…how much better could life be?!
After taking things in to the room, we went down the street for some Taco Bell takeout, 
returned to the room, and had a feast. Then, it was a walk around the place, where we found that the motel had its own little beachfront. It was too dark to take advantage of it tonight, so we decided that could wait until tomorrow morning. So, it was back to the room where we worked at our computers and I watched the Red Sox find a new way to lose to the Indians.
Tuesday, October 16
Wouldn’t you just know it! During the early morning hours a weather system developed out in the Gulf and we woke up to wind and rain…there went our plans for an hour or so of beach time before heading across the scenic route.
Barbara went out with the camera and got a few shots of the area, and then we went in to have some breakfast after loading the car and making a final check of the room. Then, it was off to breakfast, get in the car, and head east.
We had left today open for adventure. What we had in mind was to get to Destin for some sight-seeing and then either stay there for the night or drive on over to Panama City Beach to spend some outdoor time.
Unfortunately, the weather was bad across the entire eastern Gulf Coast, so when we got to Panama City, we decided to just shelve the beach plans for another time and get on in to Marianna.
We finally got to the house in Marianna around 2:00 pm, unloaded the car, and visited with Aunt Glennis and Cousin Darren for the rest of the day.
Wednesday, October 17
What a great “down-time” day. Except for great meals, we did almost nothing of consequence today. We did get out for a bit in the late morning to make a Wal-Mart run. We needed to get a few things inside, and then Barbara visited the local Dollar Tree while I gave the Vibe some much-needed nourishment.
The afternoon was spent in alternately reading, resting, checking email, etc…certainly nothing worthy of much print space.
For supper, Darren fired up the grill and cooked some of his famous cheeseburgers…yum-yum! We do eat well when we visit down here!
There were no ballgames tonight, and in spite of our day of non-activity, we were all pretty well whipped…guess the travel days caught up with us. Anyway, we called it a day by 9:00 pm.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
You’ve heard the song, “Rainy Night in Georgia?” Well, today was a “rainy day in northern Florida.” A tropical depression formed was working out in the Gulf and the result was that the entire day was spent with alternating showers and downpours. It was great sleeping weather…just don’t know now why we didn’t take advantage of it.
About 2:00 pm we all loaded up in the big car and Darren drove us over to Graceville (about 30 miles northwest of Marianna). Glennis and Barbara wanted to do some shopping at the outlet mall, while Darren and I were pretty much along for the ride while we waited to go visit Paula when her school was out.
Barbara and I did find a few items that just “jumped” into our basket while we were in one of the stores, and we also found some microwave safe dishes to take back to Big V.
Around 4:00 we went over to Paula’s house. We had decided that supper tonight would be from Grady’s, a wonderful catfish and shrimp place. People come from miles around to eat at Grady’s, and tonight was no exception; it as filled to capacity at 4:30.
Luckily, Paula had called in our order for takeout, so it wasn’t long before we got back to the house with a sack full of fried shrimp and French fry dinners, along with two large baskets of golden-fried onion rings.
We had a great time visiting…just not enough time. Before long, it was time to say goodbye and head back to Marianna for the night. I stayed up to simultaneously watch the Red Sox stay alive in the ALCS and follow the University of South Florida Bulls on Fox Sport Trax on the computer. The sox did a great job in advancing to yet another game in the series, but the Bulls fell victim to their previous week’s #2 ranking and were edged out by Rutgers.
There was nothing to do after that but call it a night and go to bed. 
Just as we were preparing to turn out all the lights, Barbara noticed something on the window and headed for her camera. Glennis explained that what we were seeing was a rain frog. When it rains heavily, these frogs attach themselves to windows, the side of the house, etc. Interesting!
Friday, October 19
We think we’re about to wear out our welcome with all of those who were so happy to see us because we brought the rain. We don’t know what the rainfall total was, but it rained all day long. That gave us a chance to get clothes washed and packed for our trip tomorrow, so it wasn’t all bad.
The day brought a number of visitors. Cousin Danny came over from Tallahassee and helped me get my Dell computer back on track. It’s been down since the first of August, and it had all of the past journal entries on it. We haven’t been able to start printing Volume 2, and now it’s getting close to time to be thinking about putting Volume 3 together. Anyway, I’m up and running again on the Dell.
Other visitors for the day included Glennis’ grandson James (Paula’s son); He’s home from law school for the weekend. Then, another grandson, Ty, and his wife Sarah, came to see us and visit Glennis before she leaves with us tomorrow.
Tonight, a trip to a great Chinese restaurant where Darren, Glennis, Barbara, and I outdid ourselves at the buffet before returning to the house to follow our Artesia Bulldogs on the webcast from our home station.
And that’s the news from Marianna, Florida for this week.
Saturday, October 20
Barbara woke up at 4:30 this morning and started getting ready for the trip. I was up around 5:15…took my shower and got dressed for the day.
Before getting the last minute items packed in the Vibe, we made a final check of our computers. There’s a strong possibility that there won’t be any internet service available to us until we get back to Artesia, so we checked the mail and sent out last minute messages.
A look at sports news showed that Artesia, who was well ahead at halftime last night, lost a close one to the 5-A Clovis Wildcats by a score of 35 – 31. This was the second consecutive “squeaker” loss for the Dogs, with both of them coming at the hands of larger classification schools.
A glance at the Wichita online paper let us know that Liberal won their second consecutive district game, defeating Arkansas City. This sets up a showdown with Wichita’s Bishop Carroll High School next Friday for the district championship and seeding rights for the sub-state tournament.
We were hoping to get away between 6:00 and 6:30, but finally got everyone and everything in the car and pulled away from the house at 6:41 am.
The rest of the day was just drive, drive, and drive. It was a beautiful day, and with a few well-timed stops along the way, we made it just fine. We pulled in at T.J.’s house in Mineola, Texas, shortly after 7:00 pm after driving 719 miles through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and into Texas.
We visited for a while and then we settled in to watch the Red Sox extend the ALCS to a final seventh game of the series by beating the Indians 10 – 2. There was a lot of channel switching going on as Barbara and I were also trying to keep up with the Auburn at LSU football game that was won by LSU with a last second play that resulted in one of the wildest finishes in college football history. Our hearts were with Auburn, but I couldn’t help but give LSU credit for a great team…can’t help but believe that we’ll be seeing them again in the national championship game.
And that’s the news for the week.
On the road again... but back in Mineola for a couple of nights.
"It's hard to cope without God's hope."...sign on the West Florida Assemblies of God Headquarters in Marianna, Florida.
Jim & Barbara
